Leelin Bakery & Cafe

We stopped in to check this place out by a few recommendations. We ordered one halo halo to go and picked up 3 of their enseymadas: cinnamon, ube/​macapuno and special. I love their cinnamon enseymada! OMG, so damn good. It kind of reminded me of a cinnamon bun. I’d totally drive here for that.
Their halo halo is pretty good and they also put a square of leche flan in it. It’s pretty self-​explanatory when you enter. The bakeshop is immediately on your right and the café is straight ahead and on your left. The layout reminds me of a cafeteria.
I’d have to come back and try the food one of these days.

Please don’t go to Leelin bakery in Cerritos because their server the name is Anna is very very RUDE. She don’t know how to entertain the costumer she have the attitude. I am a costumer since you guys had a goldilocks before, and until now because of your server’s James, Joan, Andy, Val & Premo. They are very respectful and always smiling. Every week I had my order for my clients. And besides of my order every week, every time I have a big party I order all my foods and even my friends if they have a big party I always tell them to order to leelin. And please your manager John he don’t know how to entertain your costumer he don’t even know how to smile. Thank you.

Their spaghetti is anemic, not enough sauce. So little ground beef and I think one link of sausage/​hotdog chopped. So disappointed!

We love coming here when we visit Cerritos. This place has a bakery and Filipino cuisine. Baked goods are made fresh daily. If you check in with Unilocal you receive 10% off your purchase. Awesome deal!

Seriously the best pork Sisig. I get an extra fried egg on top and some garlic fried rice on the side. and it’s breakfast! Also the iced coffee with coconut sugar and cheeserolls are just delightful.

Had a TERRIBLE experience here with a special occasion cake. Bad customer service, incorrect and inconsistent information and pricing, and an outrageous last minute notification of delivery charge from SANTA FE SPRINGS WAREHOUSE WHERE THE MAKE THE CAKES TO DELIVER TO DOWNEY, a total of 6 miles or less!
However, we come here for whole cakes for birthdays and such and they are always so moist and so fresh and SO GOOD!!! Their bakery is expensive but good and some of my family likes their hot food. Always fresh and always good. Five stars, probably, if it wasn’t for that dang specialty cake situation!

You can’t beat home cooked meals that your loved ones prepare for you. Bu then again, you can’t have all your wishes granted in one seating. This is when you go here for Filipino food.
It is not the best and the healthiest but it’ll do. I can have a cheat day on my diet, right? Let’s start with their menu on the dishes. There is garlic fried rice. Did they ran out of garlic and seasoning that we can’t taste the garlic in it? Then the Lumpiang Sariwang Hubad have some weird extenders– garbanzo beans, really? It’s better wrapped so I don’t have to see the lack of ubod in your dish. I like the sinigang. Thank you for not messing that one up. There is sisig, which I don’t think IT IS SISIG at all. I should have just ordered lechon kawali on a sizzling plate and call it a day. It is super fatty and the plate is not coaching enough to have the meat burn and form a crust. The egg on top of it is prepared in advance. YOU DON’T DO THAT. The Daing na Bangus needs more potency in their marinade. YOU DON’T SERVE IT WITH LEMON as there is already vinegar in the marinade. Oh wait, it is just fried milk fish (*bangus). The marinade has no game. It is weak AF.
The Sago’t Gulaman is weird. It is American sweet not Filipino sweet. It lacks the caramel flavor (burnt sugar) and the tapiocas are mushy. They should have been chewy with flavor. This is what happens when you make things in rush and without love.
Yeah the food menu is weak AF if you’re used to good home cooked meals.
The saving grace that they have is their bakery. I love their pastries and I can eat it for days. They have the Filipino shortbread cookies (Polvoron), I love the slight milky and sweet flavor of it mixed with pinipig. I love their cakes– chocolate and mocha sheet cakes, Brazo de Mercedes and brioches with Ube and cheese.
Yes, I’ve had better. And they’re like better than yours. I can teach you but I have to charge.

Good place to grub if you are in a rush. They have lunch express combo deals. I had the eggplant omelette aka tortang talong, pancit palabok aka noodles lol and kaldereta aka beef stew w a zing of spicyness.

Filipino AYCE breakfast, only at leelin. Its only on Saturday’s and Sunday’s. It gets really packed so its always best to come really early.
They have all the «silogs», filipino spaghetti, pandesal, garlic rice, eggs, champorado, and a lot more. All for only $ 10

Leelin Bakery is a Filipino family restaurant and bakery located across the street from the Cerritos Mall. It used to be the home to Goldilocks Bakery. That’s because Leelin used be part of the Goldilocks company.
In 2014, after 37 years operating under the Goldilocks brand, Mendrei Leelin, along with his brother and nephew, decided to part ways with their aunts’ iconic Filipino company to start their own establishment, Leelin Bakery.
You can still find traditional Filipino food, from the Philippine’s national dish, adobo — stewed pork or chicken in cane vinegar, bay leaves and soy sauce — along with popular the noodle dishes such as pancit — sauteed rice noodles with meat and vegetables.
They’ve added some fusion dishes, but overall, you really can’t tell you’re not at Goldilocks, except the iconic blue and yellow interior is gone, now replaced with a dark, mocha interior.
The portions are larger than Goldilocks, as we found out when Karen and I went for dinner. We shared an order of the lumpia, a Filipino style eggroll, an order of the chicken adobo, and an order of the Pancit Bihon.
The lumpia came out piping hot and crispy. Even though it was fried, it wasn’t overly greasy.
The adobo, however, was a vat of grease. A layer of grease could be seen as we spooned the chicken and the addictive sauce on to our plate. The chicken was disappointing, as there were mostly bones and little meat. Overprice for what we got. It would have been easier to just ask for the sauce, and skip the meat.
The pancit was the best of the 3… large portion, enough for 4 people, perfectly cooked noodles with vegetables and meat.
Like any good Filipino place, you need rice to go your meal. Carbs? what carbs! They do charge you for the rice per person, but if you want to watch your carbs, you can get 1 serving of rice or garlic rice for $ 1.50.
There was too much food for the 2 of us, and we took home leftovers. It probably one of the most unhealthiest meal I had for the week… If I were watching what I was eating I would probably have to count it as 2 «cheat» days. Fortunately, I don’t count days.
If you’re still craving the real Goldilocks, they opened a store down the street at 17 218 Norwalk Blvd.

It’s my first time here since Goldilocks. I only came for take out. Their ube roll and ensamadas were delicious. The bakery was clean, neat, and well stocked. They have cake displays for all kinds of parties and looks like they do well with children’s birthday cakes. I haven’t ate in their restaurant yet but it doesn’t look as lively as it did when I dined here last as Goldilocks. But I hope the food is better than the previous visit. The friendly lady upon checking out informed me it’s the same owner but just a chang of the name. I hope to come back soon to take loved ones here to eat as this is the closest location to me from Orange County.

I’ve been going here before the new name change. It used to be Goldilocks.
I was in the area and decided to get a quick to-​go meal. I ordered the Beef steak w onions that came w rice and broccoli. DO NOT ORDER! The beef was marinated in curry (Indian curry) so it had a lingering smell. The broccoli had some white mayo sauce on it. The whole order was simply trash! It was disgusting. Very disappointed in this place. I don’t think I’ll ever return here.

I must start by saying I’m not Filipino, nor have I been to many other Filipino bakery’s. But, I’ve been on a mission this year to try every ube thing in OC haha! Came here and basically bought everything they had that was ube, along with the halo halo, empanadas, and cheese rolls!
My favorite things were:
halo halo with ube ice cream– so refreshing and delicious! If you don’t like sweet stuff you won’t like this, but the flavor was so unique because I’ve never had it before. The ube ice cream was creamy and yummy.
Cheese roll– omg I should’ve bought 10 of these! It was like warm cream cheese fried in dough and topped with sugar. Sooooo good!
Ube Ensaymada– I didn’t know if I would like the cheese with the ube, but the sweet/​salty combo was surprisingly good! And the brioche was wonderful!
Über ube cake– ube sponge cake with ube frosting. Kinda tasted like and ube Costco cake haha!
Service was great! Will be back for more ube and halo halo goodness.

When this location change from Goldilocks to Leelins, I was bummed. I grew up with Goldilocks, so for it to go away was an end of an era. We decided to try it out. There was a wait for dinner since it was a Saturday. We ordered the bagoong fried rice, pinakbet, fried lumpia, and fresh lumpia. The food was good, but the service was pretty slow. I’d rather go to Gerry’s Grill or Salo-​Salo down the street.

Did something change with the quality of the ingredients & recipes for the pastries??? Me & a friend stopped by to pick up his favorites & to our dismay it’s not the same… I used to love the pastries here. The sponge cakes are NOT good, please go back to the way it was before.

I was over at the mall and noticed that this place was across the street. So I walked over and ordered some lunch and pastries to take home.
I ordered a Pinoy BLT, which appeared to be a chicken sandwich, but was actually a chicken skin sandwich. With taro chips on the side. The «Sriracha mayo» was ok, though not particularly spicy. And the ensaimada (brioche) bun was fine. The fried chicken skin was meh. Without the mayo it wouldn’t have really tasted like anything. They took forever to bring it out too, and even then, no napkins. I had to ask for some.
As for the pastries, I bought some single serving ensaimadas of several different flavors (cinnamon, mocha, etc.). I saved them for two days later, when a Filipino friend was going to be over for lunch. When I brought them out for him, he noticed that one was completely moldy. Gross.

Imagining taking a BLT and replacing the bacon with CRISPY CHICKEN SKIN CHICHARRONE.
That is a Balat-​Lettuce-​Tomato sandwich and that is the kind of innovation that Leelin’s Bakery has when approaching their Filipino dishes. The Cerritos location has an extensive menu from different regions of the Philippines. The café has seating service and the staff is attentive and friendly. Open space with high ceilings and large windows makes roomy and the noise level is about average. I’m pretty floored at the menu. Many Filipino dishes take hours to make and they have it available. Kare Kare, sinagaang, adobo, sisig, pancit, lumpia– things normally made for parties are available and the few dishes that I sampled are pretty darn good.
— The Iced coffee: yes! so delicious! I asked them to be easy on the milk because I like my coffee stronger. Sweetened with coconut sugar and the beans they get from the Philippines; Arabica from Benguet and Liberica from Mindanao. They take pride in informing the customers that with each coffee bought, you are helping a coffee bean farmer from the Philippines.
— Sweet and sour lechon kawali: this is a new item on the menu, putting their crispy lechon in sweet and sour sauce. If you are a fan of sweet sauce they pour over fried shrimp with pineapple bits then this dish is for you. (I prefer it without sauce but that is just my preference.)
— Pinakbet: squash, long beans, pork, hints of bagoong (shrimp paste), bittermelon. This is an Ilokano dish and it is good and rivals home-​cooking. The bittermelon is not so strong and the whole dish is perfect over white rice.
— Sinagaang; We had the pork belly that seem to melt in your mouth but you can pick other proteins. Tamarind is not that tart.
— Kare Kare: No oxtail but the pork and tripe and lots of veggies still makes this dish good.
— Bagoong fried rice: Shrimp paste is a strong condiment so I was intrigued by this dish. Never had it and I’m glad I tried it. It was very good and had a hint of shrimp paste.
— Fresh Lumpia: all the insides of a veggie lumpia but outside of a fried shell. The sauce and crushed peanuts are served on the side so you can season to your liking.
Overall, I really like Leelin’s café, mostly because they are serve familiar traditional dishes but are also open to creating an innovating menu and trying new things. I will sure to be back so I can try more dishes.
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Song Parody #526
Review 1,348
Unilocal 100 2016 Review #1
3.251 521 111 415 230 895 947 125 882 880 Stars
I love Pata, but I also love Mamon
A Mamon is moist, tender and has a lovely shape.
Leelin Bakery is in the same area where I used to see a Goldilocks, not sure if a tornado came and swept Goldilocks away?
The parking was easy on lazy, early weekend mornings, though this area is subject to much traffic.
The service was very competent, not anything particularly noteworthy but very effective.
I enjoyed the circular display of the baked goods and the separation between the dining area and the baked goods area, where you can grab some goodies and leave.
It is hard to leave a bad rating on a Mamon, and this experience is no different.
Song parody of Color Me Badd’s 1991 song «I Adore Mi Amor»
Dream on… Dream away
Of a pastry I want to taste
Taste forever
I adore, mi Mamon
I adore, mi Mamon
I want, to get a taste
That I could eat forever
A cup filled with your sugar
I see her pastry
Every time I worship her
Just her pastry, love her
Kita, guston gusto kita, maganda ka
Pakasalan mo ako
Umibig ako
Mamon magpakailanman!
(yeah yeah)
Dream on… Dream away
Of a pastry I want to taste
Taste forever
I adore, mi Mamon
I adore, mi Mamon
I love, the moist I can feel
Oh such a tender dream
So open your pastry door
Inside the pathways
I always come back for more
(What more could I ask for)
That egg yolks and white, which are separately
They come together lovely, sexy
The oil and juice will find their place
The tarter creams and powder bakes
I love her cake in my hands
Baby, I adore
Dream on… Dream away
Of a pastry I want to taste
Taste forever
I adore, mi Mamon
I adore, mi Mamon
Ooh mi Mamon, le que comi, estoy vivo, y te admiro
Amor te doy, pastel te doy, pan de siempre
Flor tan bella, dulce siempre pa mi
Y este sueño redondo y tan humedad, te como much
Mamon te como much, mi Mamon
You know I love you (I adore)
Oh how I eat you (mi Mamon)
You know that I really love my baby (I adore)
You can give me everything I need (mi Mamon)
And there would never be noone that could take her place (I adore)
You have my heart in her hands (mi Mamon)
You’re the one that I adore (I adore)
I’ll be forever your love (mi Mamon)
You’re the one that I wanna see (I adore)
I want you to stay with me… yeah (mi Mamon)

Unilocal challenge 2015. ²⁵⁴⁄₃₆₅
Truth be told, there is no such thing as a good filipino resturant because you cant replicate love and home cooking especially when it is mass produced. Call me spoiled but my Lola has her own cook in PI, my Tita cooks, my cousin cooks and I have also perfected a few dishes. I am used to home cooking. So I am already hard to please.
This place offers a AYCE filipino breakfast buffet, turo turo style (point and choose) that includes coffee or soda for $ 10.99. Paid up front, before even sitting down. Didn’t have enough time to process this pay before you eat, in order to use my Unilocal check in discount.
Located at South street and Grindley where Goldilocks used to be, surrounded by a ton of other eateries.
The place was clean. The display cases looked good. The cakes, breads, empanadas were calling out to me. Which I kindly turned down. Employees were friendly and service was alright.
So, the food. We were not fans. It was all mediocre at best. They do offer a lot of choices from tocino, beef tapa, spam, corn beef, hot dogs, longanisa, fish, spaghetti, chaparado, pandesal, pancit, fruit, cake ect.
First off, lets talk eggs. They did not have the typical fried egg normally served for a typical breakfast. If they did, we never saw them. We never saw the omlette bar either. What they serve are scrambled eggs, mixed with spinach and other vegetables. The eggs were super runny. I was hoping to see fried eggs like others said they had.
Garlic fried rice, not very garlicky at all with zero flavor. They do have garlic you can add off to the side. But, their version of fried rice is not what I am used to making at home.
The champurado was also really watery. Definitely not how I make it.
The meats… tocino, tapa, longanisa, corn beef, spam, all super salty and chewy.
The spaghetti was soft, but not as good as home cooked filipino spaghetti that I make at home.
For a $ 10.99 price, they have a ton of options and you will get your fill.
#737

Great Filipino food establishment in the Cerritos area. We came here for lunch around noonish and the place wasn’t that crowded. Within an hour, the place was packed.
My in-​laws do not eat pork or shrimp so I didn’t get a chance to order sisig or lechon but surprisingly, there are plenty of non-​pork and shrimp options. We ordered the fresh lumpia, chicken adobo fried rice, chicken pancit and the winner of the meal: milkfish sisig!
Absolutely no complaints about the food or service. The place feels very casual and there is a bakery connected to the restaurant if you want siopao and desserts.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to a breakfast buffet quite like this one. I mean when I hear buffet, I think self serve but at Leelin’s, you just point at what you want and the staff will serve it for you on a plate. Coming from someone that doesn’t particularly enjoy Filipino food, the options were somewhat limited but I think for others, it’s more than enough. My boyfriend’s parents seem to really particularly like everything they tried and were open to trying a lot of different things. But I did like trying this buffet because I was able to try things without feeling like I had to finish everything so it was a nice change.
I know everyone seems to really like tocino and longanisa but I wasn’t a fan of either one. I’ve tried tocino (sweet pork) before at other places but I found it just over the top sweet here. The same thing with the longanisa. Why is it so sweet? I don’t see the appeal of it at all. It was also a little too greasy for my preference. I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but the picadillo which should not be sweet at all, was also SWEET. I’ve tried the Cuban version of this dish before and I much prefer the more savory taste of it versus this one. The one thing that I really did like was their beef tapa. This was tasty and I enjoyed it a lot with some rice and scrambled eggs. They also had a cute little dessert section of the buffet where they put out some delicious roll cakes (different flavors). I enjoyed the cakes but I expected it since they are part bakery.
Overall, I think it’s good for the price. I was actually pretty satisfied despite the fact that things were just way too sweet for me. But at least I got to try some new stuff which was a lot of fun. Oh and I really thought that they could have used some vegetables in this buffet to help with some of the greasiness of the food. I didn’t really see anything green besides some tomatoes. Service was also very slow but they were also very busy. Worth a visit to check it out. ³⁄₅

This flagship location for the Leelin Bakery brand is a perfect sit down location for Filipino food for friends who aren’t to well versed in this particular culinary delicacy. The biggest problem with Filipino food are the broke ass Panda Express fast food joints of semi fresh food that is just too oily, under heated, and just too salty. With that said, I love food like that because it reminds me of my childhood so I don’t mind that food at all, especially when you have a healing bowl of rice to even all that fatty goodness all together.
This Leelin location however is on another level. It’s a true sit down Filipino restaurant, like Max’s in Glendale but with way better service. They present and plate the food in family style dishes and small plates. The sisig is amazing, crispy with a fried egg on top. The bbq sticks were super tasty, and I just really liked the service.
I trust this place for the Filipino classics like sinigang and adobo for a first timer. Plus, the attached bakery gives you all the dessert goodness you would expect from a Leelin brand. Did I say buttered biscotti!!! So addicting.
Overall a solid location. One of my favorite Filipino food restaurants in LA

Okay breakfast food. Check in on Unilocal for 10% off and keep receipt for discounts on bakery. Buffet is only fri-​sun from 8−11pm!
The $ 10 Filipino breakfast buffet included: Tocino, longanisa, beef tapa, corned beef, adobo, eggs, spam, spaghetti, champorado, fish, Filipino sweets, and others that I don’t remember. Soda/​drinks cost extra. It’s basically like a cafeteria where you point out which food you want on your plate. All in all, the quality was just okay. There was nothing too special about it to me. You get what you pay for!
For only $ 10, I think it’s worth it for AYCE breakfast food especially if you eat a lot. I was full after 1 plate and my boyfriend was done after 2 plates. They do put a lot on your plate so make sure you tell them when to stop haha. The service was okay too. Definitely feels like I’m in the Philippines in here haha. Wish this was still Goldilocks!